China punishes 11 for dereliction of duty after deadly bus fire

by Dramelin 8:00 PM 0 comments

BEIJING The government of the northern Chinese region of Ningxia has punished 11 officials for dereliction of duty after a deadly bus fire last year killed 18 people in the regional capital Yinchuan. In 2013, a bus fire blamed on a suicidal man killed 47 in the coastal city of Xiamen. Two of the 11 officials punished for dereliction have already been handed over to authorities for prosecution, including a senior Yinchuan police officer, while others have been given administrative punishments, the government said. The man blamed for starting the fire, Ma Yongping, was executed in December. Bus fires are not uncommon in China, where regulators have blamed some recent blazes on flawed design.